Give your cognitive powers a boost with brain training apps on the web, PC and mobile. Roland Waddilove shows what you need to think smarter
They say you only use 10% of your brain's capacity and that if you could use 100%, you'd be a genius that would make Einstein look dim. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could use more of our brain power? Brain training websites and mobile apps have all claimed that by using them you can build up your cognitive abilities, boost your IQ and become a lot smarter than you are right now. They say that they combat the effects of aging, make you better at work and help you become better problem solvers.
They say that the brain is like a muscle, and just as you would go to the gym and lift weights to train your muscles to do more, you can perform mental exercises to train your brain to do more too. By spending just 15 minutes a day on some simple games, you can boost your brain power way beyond its current level.
Unfortunately, the reality is a bit different. Brain training cannot prevent or alleviate dementia and alzheimers in old age or any other medical condition, as was once claimed by those who sold brain training systems. It cannot boost your IQ, and it cannot make you use more of your brain. That 10% brain figure is a myth anyway. At least that's what the scientists who have studied brain training tell us.
This doesn't mean brain training is useless or pointless. Quite the opposite: engaging in activities that make you think hard in many different ways is beneficial to the health of your mind and your brain. Just take any medical claims with a large pinch of salt.
Challenging your mind makes new connections between the neurons in your brain, so any type of activity, such as completing crosswords, playing a musical instrument, solving logic puzzles and so on, can enhance your brain. The activities in brain training schemes are designed to provide mental challenges, so they're good for you, but not necessarily better than other mentally challenging activities.
You only get better at whatever you practise, so if you practise addition and subtraction in a brain training game, you'll get better at it. However, it won't make you any better at multiplication and division. You'd have to practise those too. Use a brain training system, and you can see that your scores increase from week to week. This isn't because you're getting smarter or your IQ is increasing; it's because you're getting better at the games you're playing. Play any game, and after a couple of weeks you'll be better at it than when you just started.
The skills learnt in a brain training game do not necessarily apply to other activities, and for this reason the best systems provide a wide range of different activities, so you practise as many different skills as possible. The hope is that some might transfer into real life. This isn't guaranteed, and it depends on the activities. It's easy to see how some brain training activities are useful. Mental arithmetic, for example, can help in everyday life, such as when you need to add up your shopping bill as you go around a supermarket.
Think of brain training activities mainly as a form of entertainment, but also as a way of sharpening certain skills through a series of fun, mentally and physically challenging games.
Websites
There are many websites with brain training apps, and in addition to dedicated websites, you can find useful apps in sites that feature collections of online games. Here are a few sites worth checking out.
Brain Metrix
Rating: 5/10
URL: brainmetrix.com
Brain Metrix is a website that provides a collection of brain training games to exercise your mind. Many of the best brain training games require payment or a subscription, but here they're free. It provides around 20 different games and some of them are well known classics, but others are simple tests of memory, reflexes and logic.
Among the classic games is chess where you play the computer. Chess is a great game for stretching your mind and making you think. It isn't aimed at chess experts, so don't expect grand master level play, but it's challenging for casual players and it certainly makes you think. Sudoku is another classic, but Brain Metrix's version is poor and there are better alternatives. Rubik's Cube is great and it's a 3D object on the web page that can be manipulated just like the real thing by grabbing it with the mouse and rotating the cube and faces. Tower of Hanoi is the classic logic puzzle where you must move disks from one pile to another using three posts. The web version works well.
There are many other games and some are very basic, such as one game that tests your reflexes. A square changes colour and you click the mouse as soon as you see it. In a related game the square appears at random in the grid, so you must move the mouse and click. There are memory games in which you turn over cards and try to find matching pairs, colour games and maths problems.
The presentation is plain and simple, some of the games are basic, and it doesn't track your activities or progress. It's far from the best, but it's free.
Mind Games
Rating: 6/10
URL: mindgames.com
Mind Games provides a collection of online games that run in the browser, and they're colourful, graphical and entertaining. The presentation is excellent, and the site is a lot of fun. There are too many games to list, so here are just a few examples.
Brain Trainer has four categories of games: memory, reaction, logic and focus. In each of these are two games. It challenges you in a variety of ways. For example, one game has coloured circles, and in each circle is the name of a colour. You have to click circles where the name matches the colour. In another game, there are tiles. Several will turn over at random to show a colour and then turn back. You need to remember and click them. Brain training games sound easy, but they're designed to confuse you and put you under pressure so you make mistakes.
Brain Waves has seven games that challenge your speed, accuracy, perception, reactions, multitasking, memory and coordination. Some of the games seem more like physical challenges than mental ones, such as a game where you need to move the mouse over objects that appear on the screen as fast as you can. Some do make you think, such as 3D objects that are presented at different angles and in different colours, and you have to find the matching pair. A nice feature of this game is that it tracks your score, which you can post on Facebook.
Brain Workout is similar in style. The games have nice graphics and simple animation that make it entertaining. There's a small collection of games, including a maths workout with addition, subtraction and multiplication; a game that involves keeping track of the number of fish in a bucket; a money game in which you have to calculate the amount of change when you buy goods; and several more. The games are basic but fun for a few minutes.
There are many more brain training games at this website, and the range and variety are good. They're individual games and are not part of any training programme, though.
Neuronation
Rating: 8/10
URL: neuronation.com
Neuronation is in a different league, and instead of a collection of separate games on a website, it's more of a complete service. Visit the website, and you're first asked a series of questions about how often you exercise, what your goals are for brain training and so on. A personalised training programme is then created, and you can sign into the site with an email address or by using Facebook login.
You start by playing three simple games, such as connecting circles and clicking on meanings and colours. After an evaluation, recommendations are given, such as taking an intelligence course and how many exercises a day and a week you should do.
The site makes its money from subscriptions, which is £48 if you sign up for 12 months or £199 for a lifetime membership. That's a lot of money, so you'd have to be really keen to want to pay that for brain training. However, it isn't that different to what you would pay elsewhere.
Before signing up, explore the free content first. There are categories for numeracy, language, reasoning, memory and perception. One or two brain training games are free in each category, while the rest, sometimes more than a dozen, are available to subscribers. The games are excellent, the presentation is good, and they really make you think. Your progress can be tracked in your profile. There's a social side too: you can invite friends and exchange messages.
Neuronation is excellent. Although there are some free games, you'll get the most benefit if you subscribe.
Lumosity
Rating: 9/10
URL: lumosity.com
Lumosity is one of the biggest and best-known brain training companies, particularly in the US where it has been featured on TV and radio. Visit the website, and your first task is to sign up, which you can do most easily with a Facebook account. Unlike Brain Metrix and Mind Games, Lumosity tracks your progress, the games you have played, your scores and achievements.
There are three games to play each day, which take about five minutes to complete. Some of them are traditional brain training games, such as one where there's a grid of tiles, some of which flip over for a second and change colour. You must memorise the ones that flip and then click them afterwards. Other games are very unusual, like the one that shows a photo of a woodland scene. A bird appears somewhere, and a number appears elsewhere. You then have to click where the bird appears and select the correct number, so you need to both see and remember two things that flash on the screen.
The quality of the games at the Lumosity site is excellent, and the brain training programme is well thought out. There's a daily schedule and daily games, and as you complete them they're ticked off. There's progress monitoring and achievements, and lots of scores to monitor your efforts. It's really well thought out.
Like Neuronation, access is limited for free, and you'll get the most out of it by subscribing. All the features and games can be unlocked for £7.95 a month, but signing up for two years reduces the cost per month to £2.50 (£59.95 total). There are lifetime and family memberships too. The two-year membership is recommended.
Software
There's a small collection of brain training apps in the Windows Store, and two of the best are examined here. Both are free, although there are paid upgrades. You need Windows 10 or 8.1 to run them.
A Clockwork Brain
Rating: 9/10
Source: Windows Store
A Clockwork Brain is a brilliant App for Windows 10 that's well worth adding to your collection of brain training resources. It contains 17 mind-stretching games that exercise your memory, attention, reasoning and dexterity skills. It's free to download, and most of the content is free, although there are in-app purchases to gain access to extra items.
There are games like Attention, in which graphics are shown on tiles in a grid, and you need to click the odd one out as fast as you can. In Label It, you see a silhouette and must identify it and click the name among several possibilities. In Dexterity an object is shown, then conveyer belts scroll left and right and you must match silhouettes again. In another game you must identify the smallest of several objects and then press the arrow in which it's pointing.
The graphics are excellent and have a sort of steampunk look to them. Your guide through the app's games is a brass robot and the whole look and feel of the app is great. The games are fun and it tracks your progress. This is recommended if you have Windows 10.
Mind Games Free
Rating: 8/10
Source: Windows Store
Mind Games comes in free and paid versions. Both contain the same number of brain training games and there are 25 in each, but in the free app only seven can be played an unlimited number of times. The remaining 18 can be played three times before they're locked. This is fair enough and you can try everything before handing over £3.89 for the full version.
The 25 games cover subjects like memory, vocabulary, speed, trivia, maths, verbal concepts and more. Some of the games are really hard and in Word Memory you have seconds to memorise dozens of words. Words then appear on the screen and you must say whether or not they were on the list. It's far too hard. Others are easier, like Memory Racer in which coloured tiles appear and you must say whether the current one matches the previous one, and Attention Training in which you must focus on the direction of an arrow in the centre of the screen.
With 25 games there's a lot to keep you occupied. The graphics are mostly quite simple, although it does contain a few photos in matching games. It's considerably cheaper than the website subscriptions, which may make it tempting.
Mobile Apps
Brain training is a big market on mobile, and there are dozens of brain training apps. This is because smartphones are perfect for this type of application. Brain training consists of quick and simple games you can tap with a finger, and with a phone you can play anytime anywhere.
Websites like Lumosity and Neuronation have apps you can run on your Android or iOS phone, and they're almost exactly the same as the websites. You get the same games, same progress tracking and so on. There are also mobile versions of the two Windows 10 apps - Mind Games Clockwork Brain. A good feature of these mobile apps is that your progress and scores are synced, so you can play brain games online, on your phone or in Windows.
Nearly all the brain training apps on mobile are good, and you can't really go wrong with them. Search for 'brain training' in the Google Play store or Apple App Store on your phone, and dozens of apps are listed. Some of the best include Peak, Elevate, Brain Yoga, Fit Brains and Memorado, but there are many more. In most cases you get a few brain training exercises for free, and there are in-app payments or subscriptions to unlock the rest of the content.
Don't Believe The Claims
Some brain training companies have been known to exaggerate the benefits of their programmes, but you should be wary of claims that they can have any effect on medical conditions, get you a better job or increase your IQ.
Lumosity is one of the biggest and best-known brain training companies, with web apps you can run on your PC and mobile apps for phones and tablets. It's said to have around 70 million members, and the company's brain training was widely advertised on television and radio in the US.
It got a bit carried away with its claims, though, and said it could do all sorts of things that brain training games have never been proven to do, such as alleviate the symptoms of dementia, strokes and brain injuries. The company was fined $2 million by the US Federal Trade Commission for deceptive advertising claims that could not be backed up by science (bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35241778).